I am a huge animal lover and after reading World Without Us (must read) and realizing how many birds die each year (from cats, windows, wind turbines etc) and how hard life is for them in general, I wanted to get a bird feeder and help these little guys out a bit more. I had a bird nest right outside my window and it was awesome to see the little guys grow up and take flight.
Backyard Birdshop is a very cool shop - the staff is friendly and knowledgable , and they have a good, earth friendly collection of bird feed. Box store bird feeds have either lots of fillers or they have seeds that are non-native which can start growing if they fall to the ground.
Anyways, check them out in the Portland - Vancouver area:
Backyard Birdshop
It is so nice to hear from our clients that how much their images mean to them, and that we were able to make them happy. I got two notes today, and I wanted to share them! The first is from Anna and Brian:
Hi Evrim,
Wanted to send you a quick note that I absolutely LOVE LOVE our wedding album. It’s gorgeous and even better than I imagined it would be. The cover photo is perfect and I loved how you put the words over the glare of the sun, very cool. J
And the calendar is pretty cool too, thanks so much for doing that. You’ve done way more for us that was necessary!
I can’t wait to give our parents their albums, they are going to love them. Thank you so much again. You were our favorite wedding vendor by far!! J
Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and get to take some well deserved time off!
Cheers,
Anna
and then I got a quick and nice note from one of our Mexico clients as well, from Amy:
Evrim,
It was wonderful meeting you. If your pictures are anything like your personality they will be great!!!
Amy
Love it!
Heads up, this has nothing to do with photography.
Professor Muhammad Yusuf won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his effort in alleviating poverty through micro-loans to the poor in this home in Bangladesh. “Micro-loans” imply loans that are not significant in amount. A lot of the loans we get are large amounts, and from commercial banks. Yusuf’s bank, Grameen Bank, in contrast, lends to the poor, in any amount. These are very small amounts for us, but it means a lot to people trying to make a living in third world countries.
These are not hand outs, they are loans, and they get paid back. It is a great way out of poverty, especially for women entrepreneurs in the poor countries. Not quite the same, but growing up in Turkey, I was able to go through high school and college due to the generosity of many people, and I feel a sense of duty to pay back. We donate to a bunch of charities, including Mercy Corp and my high school’s scholarship fund, and added the micro-loans as well. You can donate tax deductible, if you like, to Grameen Foundation, or lend (peer to peer lending) at Kiva.org
Senate passed the Orphan Works Bill, a.k.a. S. 2913, The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act. This bill permits, and even encourages, wide-scale infringements while depriving creators of protections currently available under the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, and the international TRIPs Agreement. It is a terrible bill passed by back handed tactics and it hurts creative people and benefits cheats.
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/legal-news/e3i32e9c3e84ea86c79a986b2e71ae001f0
http://www.abouttheimage.com/3900/senate_passes_orphan_works_bill_s2913_house_expected_to_follow/author2/
My friend Joe sent me this - it is the story of an object, located thousands of miles away.
An amazing gift
We got some great notes over the last couple days from our clients. Thank you! We love creating wonderful artistic images for our clients in a relaxed, laid back attitude and it is nice to see our clients appreciate it!
From Allison:
“Hello Evrim,
Michael and I wanted to send a big thank you your way. You are such a friendly, professional, and utterly amazing photographer. We feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work with you.
Thank you so very much for photographing our wedding.
Sincerely,
Allison and Michael”
From Mike and Julia:
“Hi Evrim,
We got the DVD. Thank you. You are the best photographer ever.
Hope you are staying busy.
Mike and Julia”
From Brian and Anna
“<…>
It was a pleasure having you as our photographer for our wedding. You were very personable and easy to work with. I hope the feeling is mutual for you as well 
We look forward to hearing from you.”
From Carrie:
“I have gotten so many calls and emails already about how much everyone loves these.
Thank you!!
Carrie”
It is such a great feeling to make my clients happy! 
The style of wedding photography we do is called photojournalistic wedding photography. Recently, I was runner up for international organization WPJA’s Photojournalistic Photographer of the Year, and won also first and second places in WPPI’s various wedding photojournalism categories.
Wedding photojournalism shares a lot of the same elements as real photojournalism (though there are some important differences, for example the family shots that nobody seems to like but a lot of people seem to want). Capturing the moments and documenting the wedding day without directing in an artistic way is key to my wedding coverage.
The points raised in the following NPR segment are frequently discussed at photographer forums. I thought some of you will find it interesting:
In A Photoshop Age, Can You Believe Your Eyes
Pretty cool read.
